Outside of Washington, DC, few see the machinations going on regarding the largest funding bill for the nation’s aviation system, The FAA Reauthorization Bill of 2015. This bill should be completed by September so that the air traffic system improvements continue, the FAA safety efforts are maintained, development of highways in the sky for drones is planned, airports can pursue new runway and terminal plans, and much more.
This time around, consumers — yes, passengers like you and me — are a part of the planning and formation of this legislation. Travelers United has already met with both Republican and Democrat offices of the Chairmen and Ranking Members of the Senate Commerce Committee and the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. Those meetings have been followed up with other members of both committees.
The number one need for consumers when it comes to this bill will be to keep the FAA moving forward without any major funding issues. The NextGen project will reduce fuel use, increase airport capacity, reduce overall aircraft noise, save time on most air routes, and more.
Congress needs to pass the bill with no time extensions.
A note: The last FAA bill faced 23 extensions with debate that lasted more than two years. During that time, no long-range aviation improvement projects could be started or continued since funding was reduced to several months at a time, and in some cases, weeks at a time. From a fiscal point of view such actions are flat out irresponsible and cost taxpayers a bundle in rebudgeting and recontracting for each and every extension. Plus, the flying public faces delays caused by Congress’s failure to do their job.
Already, rumors are circulating in Congress and among aviation stakeholders and insiders that extensions will be unavoidable and that Congress is looking at a delay in getting this bill ready for another year. These “insiders” claim that a one year extension will not hurt the overall bill.
For consumers an extension is simply unacceptable and unnecessary.
The country does not have a year to pause when it comes to continuing the development of the new national air traffic control system. We do not have time to wait for the development of a new unmanned air traffic management system to allow low-level unmanned aerial vehicles to begin operating.
Two major issues seem to be causing the most debate in Congress. Both issues may end up delaying the FAA Bill to the detriment of the flying public. These are both issues where multi-organization dialog and research needs to continue, but where implementation can be put off for another three years.
- Reorganization of the national air traffic organization. This issue — sometimes call privatization or corporatization — has been discussed for about a decade, but in this bill it could become a stumbling block that might delay the bill because the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee is pushing for a “transformational” bill and has introduced this reorganization in early hearing on the bill.
- Integration of unmanned aerial vehicles into the national air space and related privacy issues.
These two major issues are far too important and complex to be settled in time for a timely vote on a 2015 vote on the FAA Reauthorization Bill. They need to be studied and analyzed before any implementation or votes by any committee.
The new air traffic organization (ATO) question
The corporatization of the air traffic organization will be a long term project. A similar transformation was undertaken by the Canadians to create an organization that is held up as a model for the US to emulate. However, the Canadian process took more than five years; and, our air traffic management system is far larger than the Canadian system.
The best solution to keep the current modernization of our air traffic control system moving forward is to create a congressional commission or working group to examine the options of starting a new air traffic organization or, perhaps, reorganizing the current FAA and creating a system of funding that is not part of the political process, but, rather can be run as a business.
The coming world of unmanned aerial vehicles (or drones)
Drones (UAVs) come in all shapes and sizes — some are the size of 737s others are small, and getting smaller. They are here NOW! More than half-a-million small UAVs have been sold here in the USA according to some estimates. Pilots are reporting close encounters with UAVs that can be sucked into jet engines just like a flock of geese.
UAVs are already being used for photographing real estate, surveying large tracts of land, monitoring precision agriculture, saving water used for crops, limiting pesticides, on search and rescue missions, mapping of shorelines, checking remote utility lines and pipelines, checking fences in widespread ranches, keeping geese away from airport runways, and many other purposes.
The UAV world will be transformational. What was once only seen in a cartoon like the Jetsons, will be everyday, plus more. We as a country need to be ready. Our Congress needs to act to prepare for this new technology before it overwhelms our other air traffic systems and becomes a menace.
The US government has no plan for handling this new technology.
Yes, the FAA has recently promulgated rules for use of small UAVs at low levels, but there is no final rule yet. Plus, no one in the government is looking at what the future will bring as these UAVs begin flying in low-level airspace.
The country will need some sort of certification program for these flying machines. Some government organization will need to create rules of the low-level airspace, just as we have developed roads, traffic signs, stoplights and rules for road travel. However, nothing is being done right now as a part of a whole.
NASA is working on a project that they call unmanned traffic management that seeks to create systems of geofencing and air route designations, other researchers are looking at designing a system for unmanned aerial vehicles that allow them to fly autonomously where manned aircraft don’t, and yet other programs at the FAA are examining sense-and-avoid systems to keep UAVs from crashing into each other or, worse, into a loaded airliner.
Plus, the use of UAVs across the country raises droves of privacy concerns and questions. Who owns the airspace over one’s house. Should a peeping drone be considered the same as a “Peeping Tom”? What about other levels of surveillance? What about government searches of citizens’ property?
Pass the FAA Bill and form working groups to study a new air traffic organization and the coming world of UAVs.
Travelers United is recommending that the FAA Bill be passed on time so that the current FAA work to upgrade our air traffic control system (they call it NextGen) can continue without a break in long-term contracts that must be dissolved when long-term funding is not available.
Part of that bill should be the formation of three working groups to report in September 2017 back to Congress with recommendations and roadmaps for:
- A transition to a new air traffic organization or a fix for our current system
- Integration of UAVs into the national air space
- Privacy concerns raised by UAVs and by the use of big data by airlines.
The FAA reauthorization expires in 118 days as of the date of the post (June 5, 2015). There is no way that these issues will be sorted out in just over four months. Congress should be reasonable and wrestle with issues that can be decided now.
Leave these three larger transformational issues to the future, but mandate serious study of these projects with a reporting date to Congress of September 2017.
Charlie Leocha is the President of Travelers United. He has been working in Washington, DC, for the past 14 years with Congress, the Department of Transportation, and industry stakeholders on travel issues. He was the first consumer representative to the Advisory Committee for Aviation Consumer Protections appointed by the Secretary of Transportation from 2012 through 2018.